Introduction
Within the last decade, very little has been written about overseas trained teachers (OTTs) in England in the first wave of teacher migration that happened in 2000–2008. This is due mainly to the fact the pattern of teacher migration to England slowed in the late 2000s in response to an expanded European Union, and also due to public awareness of the maltreatment faced by OTTs in the early to mid-2000s. Although the pattern of teacher migration to the United Kingdom, in particular, to England, has changed considerably since the early 2000s, there is evidence that due to ongoing problems in teacher supply in England, international teacher migration and recruitment has once again intensified.
As the local shortage of teachers continues, it is expected that the second wave of teacher migration and recruitment to England, which started in 2014, will intensify as England once more struggles to staff classrooms and to maintain its position in key international education league tables. This paper reports findings from a larger study on ‘A day in the life of an OTT’. Two overlapping issues are examined: (a) how OTTs spend a typical work day in England compared to a work day back ‘home’, and (b) whether OTTs feel they are flourishing in England or simply holding their own.
Overseas Trained Teachers (OTTs) in England
An Overseas Trained Teacher (OTT) is any teacher who has undertaken teacher training outside of the European Economic Area and Switzerland and has been recognised by the competent authority in their home country. OTTs in England come from OECD countries, including the United States and Canada, and from other places such as Asia, Africa and the Caribbean. It is appropriate to make three important points at this juncture. First, although not considered OTTs, it is also worth noting teachers trained in a European Union member country are exempt from the requirements of having to do UK QTS due to the mutual recognition of qualification clause under the Bologna Convention. Second, from 1 April 2012, the Department for Education (DfE) removed the requirement for teachers trained in Canada, the United States, Australia and New Zealand to undergo any additional training leading to the award of UK Qualified Teacher Status (QTS), and as a result they can apply directly to the National College for Teaching and Leadership (NCTL) for QTS without taking further training or assessment in England (DfE, 2014, p.2). Third, OTTs without UK QTS, not including those exempt from further training and assessment such as those from Canada, the United States, Australia and New Zealand, are considered ‘Unqualified teachers’ until they have satisfactorily completed UK-based qualifying training and assessment. Based on recruitment activities in 2015 and 2016, the six countries from where the majority of OTTs arriving in England originate are the Irish Republic, Australia, Canada, New Zealand, South Africa and Jamaica (Boffey, 2015). Although all these countries speak English as a first language, it is to be noted that with the exception of Jamaica and South Africa, both developing countries, OTTs from the other four (industrialised, ‘White’) countries have been exempt from the requirements of UK QTS.
Data on OTTs is, however, very patchy. Nevertheless, using Home Office and data from Work Permits UK, Miller (2006) estimated that circa 43,000 OTTs were in the UK. In 2006, this was approximately 10 per cent of the total teaching force. The top supplying countries during the period 2001–2005 were: South Africa, Australia, United States, New Zealand, Canada and Jamaica. In 2018, data remains patchy, and as we already know, the top sending countries have not changed. Although both the Home Office and the Department for Education have confirmed that they no longer collect nationality data on OTTs and that work permit data is no longer broken down into categories (e.g. teachers and instructors), one can assume the numbers of OTTs in England are not below 43,000 due to increased migration and recruitment associated with the second wave of teacher migration.
Methods and sample
This paper draws on a combined descriptive and auto-ethnographic research methodology. Whereas descriptive research aims to provide a detailed and accurate picture of a particular situation (Neuman, 2006), in this case, ‘A day in the life of an OTT’, auto-ethnography aims to provide detailed accounts of events and experiences from the viewpoint of participants. Together, these approaches allow participants to speak with an uninterrupted voice (Etherington, 2009), thereby rendering their reflective accounts more authoritative. The aim of the study was to show (a) how OTTs spend a typical work day in England compared to a work day back ‘home’, and (b) whether OTTs feel they are surviving (coping, getting by) and/or thriving (progressing, flourishing) in England. Each participant responded to the same 12 questions. Using Question Level Analysis, responses to each question were examined for common themes and patterns.
Sample